Sri Lanka military reported to have killed 65 civilians

Thu, 2006-11-09 03:43  admin

Colombo, 09 November, (Asiantribune.com): According to a latest report emerging from Tami Tigerl rebel sources, at least 65 civilians were killed and about 300 injured when Sri Lanka Army fired Multi-Barrel Rockets and artillery shells on Wednesday around 11.35 a.m. targeting a school in Kathiraveli, a coastal village 15 km north of Vakarai, in the Batticaloa district, located in the East of Sri Lanka.

The bodies of the victims were brought to the Vakarai hospital inside the rebel-held part of Batticaloa following heavy artillery shelling.

Earlier, Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger rebels revealed that nearly 45 civilians were killed and 125 sustained injuries. Out of those so far died, six of them were identified as babies below six months of age. Also shelling had damaged â€˜Sonobo Infants Home.â€™ seriously injuring nearly 12 infants.

In the meantime, Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry did not so far made any comment on the bombing and death of scores of civilians in the rebel control coastal area of Kathiraveli, but suggested that there may have been civilian losses.

"It was what the Tigers wanted -- to cause damages to the innocent Tamil civilians by provoking the army to retaliate for the Tigers' sporadic and indiscriminate shelling," the Media Centre for National Security said in a statement.

However Sri Lanka Government accused that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is using civilians as human shield and said that Sri Lankan Forces are only retaliating against the intense rebel shelling.

"The Tigers had been planning this situation since the beginning of this month by detaining the innocent civilians in those areas by force to be used as a human shield when the time arises," the defence ministry statement said.

As per the senior military officials it was disclosed that there is not even a slightest possibility in the Security Forces shells falling at the villages which are far away from the tiger gun positions and the tiger bases in the uncleared areas.

The rebel websites revealed five thousand Internally Displaced People (IDPs) had sought refuge in the Kathiraveli Vigneswara Vidyalayam.

It is further revealed so far, around 40 dead bodies have been recovered and 30 dead bodies had been brought to Vakarai hospital. More than a hundred wounded civilians are struggling without medical facilities as the only hospital in Vakarai was also targeted by the artillery attack.

In the meantime, Sri Lankan military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said he was not aware of civilian casualties but confirmed "heavy artillery and mortar bomb exchanges" in the Batticaloa district. The shelling came as security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels accused each other of trying to spark full-scale war.